Monday, September 30, 2019

Behaviorally Disordered or Socially Maladjusted

Write a brief explanation of factors to be taken into consideration when assessing and determining whether a student is behaviorally disordered or socially maladjusted. When we are assessing a child to determine if a behaviorally disordered or socially maladjusted we must notice problems such as the child staying on task or trying to focus. A child might also be getting low grades when we know they are capable to complete their work.Children that are behaviorally disordered or socially maladjusted can have problems including attention deficit problems, problems with certain teachers, emotional disturbance, depression, anxiety, and environmental factors from the child’s home. Observation is used to try to understand and be aware of factors that might be influencing a child’s behavior. We must do observations of a specific situation, various settings, and different times of day. The observer has target behaviors that they record throughout the observation.Four of the most common recordings are anecdotal recording, even recording, latency recording, and duration recording. By doing observations we should be able to provide the behaviors we are frequently seeing, information that might relate to services a child might be needing, information that can help form intervention plans and goals, and an understanding of the child’s abilities in certain areas. Interviews help us gather information effectively. We can have a structured or unstructured interview to help us gain insight and understand the child and additional concerns.We must understand what behaviors need to be watched and when we do the assessment for the child’s suspected disability. We must be aware of a child’s comfort level when doing assessment because if a child is displaying a high level of discomfort it might be a sign of more serious problems. Testing environment must be taken into consideration because it can have a large impact on the results of the testing when determining the true needs of the child. We can look at reaction time, the nature of responses give, the child’s verbal interaction ith the examiner, and organizational approach during testing, adaptability, and the child’s attitude. These must all be looked at and observed when assessing for this type of disability. When assessing a child’s behavior we must have knowledge of the degree the child believes their behaviors make a difference in their life, the tolerance for frustration that the child has, the activity level of the child, self-view of the child, emotional response of the child, and the conflict experienced by the child. Psychological testing is used in assessment of behavior and is administered by the school psychologist.There are many tests we can use to determine if behavior is a disability for the child. Behavior Intervention Plans must be developed when dealing with a child’s inappropriate behaviors. This is intended to reduce the need f or extreme discipline measures. These types of plans are intended to help control and suppress the behaviors that are inappropriate for a child. We must fully understand the psychological makeup of a child that might be behaviorally disordered or socially maladjusted to help recommend the correct placement and services that the child might need .

Sunday, September 29, 2019

In The Shadow of the Glen Essay

In the shadow of the Glen was written by J M Synge in 1914. Even before it was shown to anybody it caused arguments within the Irish Society because some people thought the play was shocking and unpatriotic and was an insult against Irish womanhood. The main point of the play was to celebrate Irish culture and Irish writers but it seemed to turn against Synge. In the shadow of the Glen have four main characters in it. Nora Burke is the only female in the play and is very seductive and flirtatious. He is the wife of Dan Burke who was a farmer and a shepherd. There is Michael Dara whom has a small part in the play yet has an important role. He comes across to the audience as young and naive. And the last is the tramp that represents the audience and knows of Dan’s plot and also knows of secondary characters like Darcy. He is shown as a good character that wants to help people. Nora is a character that has a relationship with everyone. She has a relationship with her husband, a relationship with the tramp whom she invites in her house and talks to throughout the play and she has a relationship with Michael Dara, a young shepherd whom she wants to marry. She also has relationships with the secondary characters such as Darcy – a man that was â€Å"in her life and had made her happy when she was lonely.† She has a relationship with Mary Brien and Peggy Cavanagh, whom she refers to near the end of the play and they probably spent their childhood together. In the beginning Nora is presented as a lonely character whose husband has just died. She is middle aged and has had a bad marriage with her husband. She has had an affair with a man called Darcy and never loved Dan. â€Å"What way would I live, and I an old woman, if I didn’t marry a man with a bit of a farm, and cows on it, and sheep on the back hills?† in this quote you can see that she only got married to Dan for land and security. In the play when the scene is set, Nora is moving around the kitchen lighting candles on the table which sets a romantic mood for when Michael comes when a knock is heard on the door. It makes her jump and she looks at the dead body of her husband uneasily. She then opens the door. This opening scene pulls you into the story, as you want to know why she has candles on the table and why she looks at the body uneasily and why there is a dead body in the kitchen. You want to find out the answers to your questions. In this part of the play Nora comes across to the audience as suspicious as she is continually looking at the body with troubled looks. Nora invites the tramp that is knocking at the door into her house and gives him whisky and tobacco. She comes across as being flirtatious towards the tramp and as if she is trying to get something from him. The tramp sees the body and comments on Dan’s â€Å"queer† look, which Nora then jokes about – â€Å"He was always queer, stranger, and I suppose them that’s queer and they living men will be queer bodies after†. She isn’t sad about his death and treats it as a joke. This unsettles the audience and the tramp. In this situation Nora should be sad and maybe tearful. She would not have let the tramp in, or if she did then she wouldn’t have spoken to him much, and just given him what he asked for. Nora then tells the tramp that she can’t move or touch the body as he has put a â€Å"black curse† on her. This also comes across as suspicious and raises questions in the audience’s minds. It comes across that they have been having problems – â€Å"for he lay a black curse on me this morning if I’d touch his body the time he’d die sudden, or let anyone touch it except his sister only† one question in the audience’s mind at this point would be why would he only let his sister touch him and not his own wife? This fits in with why Nora is not very sad about Dan’s death. Nora then supports this idea by commenting on Dan being cold towards her and that he was a horrible person that complained with this quote, â€Å"Maybe cold would be no sign of death with the like of him, for he was always cold, every day since I knew him†¦ and every night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It seems to the audience and the tramp that she is sad that they were never loving towards each other and it raises another question in the audience’s mind that maybe she was regretting it. She then lightens the mood and offers the tramp the whisky and Dan’s pipe. The tramp and Nora get talking and Nora tells the tramp that she is sacred of being alone, â€Å"I’m thinking many would be afeard, but I never knew what way I’d be afeard of beggar or bishop or of any man of you at all†¦ It’s other things than the like of you, stranger as if you were easily afeard.† The question then in the audience’s mind is does she want something? or is she indicating something? The tramp then talks about Darcy, and Nora, who we know later has an affair with Darcy, is interested in what the tramp has to say about him, and enquires about him. The tramp then describes when and where he met Darcy and how he got to know him. When he tramp talks about Darcy’s death Nora shows some sad emotion and speaks â€Å"sorrowfully†. This shows she is sadder about Darcy’s death then her own husbands. She looks at the bed and speaks more quietly to the tramp about â€Å"after Darcy died she got happy again†. This indicates she is having another affair and that she cannot talk about Darcy around Dan, even if he is dead. This portrays Nora as being an unfaithful wife to Dan as she was having an affair with Darcy whilst he was alive and having one in his last few days or months. She changes the subject and asks if there was anyone else on the road. When the tramp tells her a young man was running after his sheep Nora gives a â€Å"half smile† and is intrigued. She asks about how far he was as if she wanted to meet him. She fills a kettle and puts it in fire to make some tea as if she is expecting someone. We know she is not making tea for the tramp as he has his whisky. So this proves she is expecting someone. She asks the tramp to stay with Dan. We now know this was why she was flirting with him and giving him their best whisky and cigars. In line 42 Nora speaks in â€Å"constraint† – as if she was holding back some enthusiasm to meet the young man but the tramp is uneased and wants to go himself. He doesn’t want to be left alone with the dead body. He continually looks at the dead body after Nora has gone and when she goes he tries to occupy his mind with sewing. After Dan jumps up we know that Dan is trying to trick Nora and that he is very bitter about Nora’s affair with Darcy. We know this as in line 57, the stage instructions tell us that Dan should â€Å"bitterly† say Darcy’s name. In the stage directions it is said you hear a long whistle from outside. This is Nora attracting the young man’s attention. Dab hears this and speaks â€Å"fiercely† in an ashamed way about his wife. He then takes a stick and then goes back to being dead. In this scene where Dan is alive the audience sympathise with Dan, as Nora is not sad about his death and very excited about meeting Michael. When Nora enters the house with Michael, Nora asks about Dan and if he made any sign of being alive. This may be because she suspects Dan of not being dead or just because she is being polite. The tramp lies, as he wants to see what will happen next. Nora then tries to get the tramp to leave the two alone and flirts with him a little by inviting him to use the bed, which could indicate something, â€Å"will you go into the little room and stretch yourself a short while on the bed†. But the tramp pretends to go to sleep nearby so he can hear. Michael is jealous of this and challenges the tramp a little. Once the tramp is asleep, Nora teases Michael and asks him why she should marry him. She is playing hard to get and in line 88 when she says, â€Å"It’s a hard woman I am to please this day, Michael Dara, and its no lie I am telling you.† She tells him about not wanting to be alone and that she wants to be secure and safe. During this time Michael is counting out money. This can be for two reasons – one to get more money or two to have an excuse for marrying Dan. This may be because she feels ashamed of herself and tries to find an excuse to make herself feel better. She aimlessly talks about money and not wanting to end up like a tramp roaming around streets and Michael is trying to console her. She is tempting him with whisky when Dan wakes up. Michael puts arm around her as if he is trying to prove himself when Dan sneezes. Michael is then very scared and begs for forgiveness. When Dan wants to throw Nora out he can only offer a refuge but not at his house. At this Nora is very scared a she would be alone and starts to flirt with Dan. This could be because she thinks if she flirts with him and shows him that she loves him the he would let her stay with him. But when this doesn’t work she curses him. This shows that she is using him and that she doesn’t love him. At the end the tramp to help Nora and they walk out. Nora does not enjoy the idea of not living in a house with no roof over her head as she explains to the tramp, â€Å"I’m thinking it’s myself will be wheezing that time with lying down under the Heavens when the night is cold,† and that she does not appreciate the tramp’s description of the magic of a grand morning when she describes to the tramp â€Å"What good is a grand morning when I’m destroyed surely, and I going out to get my death walking on the roads.† Nora obviously found her punishment unfair as she thought Dan was dead. She did not to be lonely and financially unstable so she acted on this thought alone. I think the writer presented her character well as it was a hard role to write. She had a lot of emotions, which were hard to display, but the point was clear.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The Main Components of the EPA's Prescribed Waste Regulations Assignment

The Main Components of the EPA's Prescribed Waste Regulations - Assignment Example Batteries rules affect every person utilizing these commodities regardless of the level of use. The rules aim at regulating and making certain that the batteries are disposed of in environmentally friendly approaches. Biological diversity regulations offer conservation of natural diversity, sustainability and evenhanded distribution of resources. Wide life rules offer protection to all animals within the natural habitat regardless of their size and habitat. Forest acts offer protection towards conservation of forests. Merchant shipping rules offer to reduce waste that arises from ships within the coastal regions. The water acts offer protection to all water sources by preventing pollution. The air acts protect the ecosystem by curbing any possible air pollutions. The waste product is any redundant, cast off, dumped, unwarranted or excess material whether or not deliberated for trade or for recycling, reclamation, recuperation or decontamination by an independent process from that which created the material. Waste products can also be deemed to be everything affirmed by directive or environmental, safety guidelines to be waste, regardless of whether they are worthy or not. Waste products are any material regardless of the state in which it is liberated, emanated or accumulated in the surroundings, in volume component or manner that can cause a change in the environment. Waste products cause pollution in the case where they are poorly managed. Situational barriers hinder recyclers from creating effective recycling systems mainly due to deficiency of certain components that play a significant role. The deficiency is addressed at the level at which recycling occurs. At the lowest level, which is the home recycling, lack of materials such as numerous and large containers, little space to keep the wastes to be recycled, portable containers appreciably affects the establishment of effectual systems. At the higher-level, a low collection of waste from the local and municipal systems, hinder the firms that recycle from establishing an effectual system.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Selecting and Model and Anticipating Barriers posts Assignment

Selecting and Model and Anticipating Barriers posts - Assignment Example In matters of oral health, â€Å"...perceived severity...and...Perceived benefits† should be the main concepts in promotion of oral hygiene. Perceived severity of oral problems is usually low as oral problems are not perceived as fatal; however, quality of life is significantly lowered e.g. through pain and a problem like halitosis limits social interaction. Dentists thus can be involved in HBM by showing the benefits of prevention and healthy living; especially financial benefits and avoidance of pain (Maurer & Smith, 2009). I agree that â€Å"People know what is good for their health but it is difficult for them to change their behavior.† This might stem from them not knowing the actual steps needed to lead healthier lives in spite of them having insight to the health problems they face. By integrating people in decision-making, they are part of the solution thus likely to adopt change than when they feel the proposed changes are alien to them (Center for Disease Control and

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Sociological Theories of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Sociological Theories of Education - Essay Example In the current society, discrimination in the education system can be achieved through systems and policies that eliminate discrimination and promote ‘education for all’. According to WEB Bois (1868-1963), education should teach certain values such as the capacity to endure, love for beauty, avoidance of luxury, and a concern for courtesy. The purpose of education Randall (2007) writes that education is a process of acquiring data and knowledge, as well as learning different forms of behavior and competency in a specific field. The purpose of education involves cultivating human minds with values and principles that assist in determining the right and the wrong. The purpose of education also incorporates learning skills in certain subjects that assist in achieving overall development. In essence, education is a lifelong process and never ends. The purpose of education, therefore, entails a continuous change in the direction in the life of human beings. In the society, hu man beings realize the importance of education when they encounter difficulties. According to Carpenter  and   Haning (2011), in personal and professional development, education has a purpose of assisting each person to gain skills that can be used to overcome personal and professional difficulties. The basic purpose of education involves learning how to write, read, and understand concepts. The skills taught in the process of acquiring literacy remain for the whole life. It should be noted that writing, reading and understanding skills improve all the time a person reads and thinks. Education’s purpose is to teach a person how to acquire social and professional skills necessary for the socialization process in the society. Maintaining social relations in... This paper stresses that the purpose of education involves cultivating human minds with values and principles that assist in determining the right and the wrong. The purpose of education also incorporates learning skills in certain subjects that assist in achieving overall development. In essence, education is a lifelong process and never ends. The national curriculum in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools. These subjects and standards ensure that students learn similar content. This paper makes a conclusion that the national curriculum also covers which subjects should be taught and the standards pupils should meet in each subject. The Swan report, racism existed in educational institutions as well as individual levels. The British society is a multi-racial population, however, racism affected the education of minorities. The swan report also documented educational policies established in minority communities. The Tripartite System categorized the education system of England, Wales and Northern Ireland into three types: grammar, technical, and secondary modern. This system was discredited because of widespread discrimination against children from lower social class as well as children who could not pass the 11+ exam. The comprehensive system was introduced to replace the Tripartite System so that pupils could not be separated at a young age. The national curriculum was also developed to introduce ‘education for all’ principle.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Retirement of Terry Leahy's from Tesco Case Study - 1

The Retirement of Terry Leahy's from Tesco - Case Study Example The departure of a chief executive from any company attracts huge expectations in as far as changes in management are concerned as suggested by Toni and Tonchia (p947). The change can positive or even unsetting one depending on the leaving chief executive influence. The retired chief executive officer of Tesco spent his career developing the organization to be the biggest grocer in Britain. However, his successor Phillip Clarke will face the challenge of either maintaining the position or breaking the company. The retailer has a wide range of products ranging from food to furniture as well as mortgages and motor scooters. It has several outlets including its headquarters in Cheshunt and its branches in China. Tesco customers include buyers of high-quality goods and low-cost goods while stores range from mega-stores to corner shops. One of the major changes that have been encountered by the retailer since the retirement of Leahy is financial management. Since the set up of a joint ven ture with Royal bank which was done Leahy’s predecessor, Tesco has been offering financial services. According to Anon (69), this section has rapidly grown offering services such as loans, insurance, and credit cards. One of the financial changes includes the now fully owned Tesco Bank which is aiming at becoming a great competitor to other banks. So far Tesco is selling its financial products to almost six million customers. Last year, the retailer launched a range of mortgages and savings account while in the current year Tesco is planning to launch a current account. The retail organization also intends to capitalize the discontent of customers through their current jobs. A focus by Liz Hartley who is principal consultant indicates that Tesco Bank will be among the top ten best banks in the country within the next five years. However, the growth of the bank is likely to cause more changes in the organization since banks are valued in a very different way compared to a retailer.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Violence in the workplace(hospital nursing department)plan of action Essay

Violence in the workplace(hospital nursing department)plan of action - Essay Example The proposed program to respond to the issue of workplace violence in nursing, workshop will be conducted among the nursing staff. There are four main components of the interventions: assessment, program development, implementation and evaluation. The whole program will consist of three months for assessment and dry runs, twelve sessions during a period of six months and three months for the evaluation of the program. Successful outcomes for the intervention will be established at 50% decrease in reported cases of violent behavior among nursing staff and satisfaction rating of 75% from participants. Assessment will determine were conflicts or violence occurs between nursing staff. The dry-runs will be evaluated as they are completed and will serve as reinforcement to workshop strategies. The program development will involve nursing managers, human resource development consultants and staff representatives. The implementation of the programs will be initiated with a series of three work shop sessions with eight to ten participants. Participants will be chosen at random among the population defined as most vulnerable or susceptible to conflicts that led to violence. The issue of violence either against or by nursing professionals has a considerable impact to society not just health care. Current legislation emphasizes the responsibility of administrators and managers to create safe and secure working environments. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2002), the safety and well-being of nursing professionals directly affects the quality, delivery and value of health services. Though the workplace safety statutes have been in place to address the issue in the industry, the NIOSH (2002) saw it fit to develop specific legislation for the nursing profession in consideration of th professional exposure to risk, stress and violence. Case in point:

Monday, September 23, 2019

Routing Protocol Security OSPFv2 Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Routing Protocol Security OSPFv2 - Dissertation Example Using MD5 method to make a comparison between the security measures often associated with the use of OSPF v2 Routing protocol, it worked quite well to implement a network structure, which made it possible to evaluate and assess the Project background research on OSPF v2 authentication security alongside highlighting the solution that was deemed reliable for the OSPF v2 authentication. Through the use of the Quagga software, a network was implemented, which helped in testing, as well as evaluating OSPF v2 authentication. This project clearly demonstrated that OSPF as an interior gateway protocol, can route the Internet Protocol into a single routing domain. It showed that OSPF can gather a link-state information from routers and be able to construct a network of topology maps, which are more often than not used for determining routing table that is often presented in the internet layer. It was also shown that OSPF was designed in such a way that it can support the variable length subn et masking, and it is also capable of detecting any change within a topology such as any link failure and be able to converge onto a loop-free routing structure within seconds. This project also demonstrated that the OSPF network might be subdivided into various routing areas for purposes of simplifying administration and optimization of traffic and for resource utilization. It also showed that OSPF does not make use of the TCP/IP transport protocol. It is instead encapsulated in the IP datagram. This contrasts with other related routing protocols such as the Border Gateway protocol and the Routing Information protocol. It also became apparent that Router within the same broadcast domain often link from adjacencies whenever they need to detect each other. Such a detection takes place whenever a Router gets to identify itself within the hello OSPF protocol packet. This is often referred to as the two-way state. this project, as well indicted that the OSPF makes use of the multicast, as well as the unicast in sending the link state updates and the hello packets. Recommendations for Future Research The current research demonstrated clearly that it is possible OSPF V2 Routing protocol can be used as an internet security measure. Given the focus of this study and previous studies on OSPF V2 Routing protocol and other earlier versions, it is worth recommending that there is need to migrate to IPv6 considering that the solution to the existing problem which is OSPFv2 routing is to transfer to OSPFv3 and use IPsec Protocol between sites (WAN. It has been indicated that OSPF protocol when operated on other versions such as on IPv4, it operates more securely between routers. This provides an option to use varied authentication methods to give allowance to routers that are trusted to participate in routing. Although it has been noted that OSPFv3, when running on IPv6, does not any more support the protocol-internal authentication, it relies on the IPv6 protocol security (Tanenbaum, 2003). As often is the case, the OSPF version 3 would help introduce some modifications to the given IPv4 protocol implementation. Other than the virtual links, virtually all neighbor exchanges often exclusively make use of the IPv6 link-local addressing (Cisco Systems Inc, 2009). It is widely known that the IPv6 protocol always do run per link, and not based upon the subnet. It is worth contenting that all the IP prefix information has

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Logistics and Supply Chain Essay Example for Free

Logistics and Supply Chain Essay Supply Chain Management Review introduces a new series called â€Å"Back to Basics. † It’s a look into how excellence in the core logistics and supply chain activities leads to overall business success. The articles in this seven-part series are written by educators from the University of Tennessee. Pictured: Wendy L. Tate, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee. By Wendy L. Tate, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee October 21, 2010  Globalization, increased competition, fluctuating availability of raw materials and pricing conditions have increased the need for better management of the suppliers who provide goods and services to the organization. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the cost of purchased materials is approximately 54% of the value of shipments for manufacturers. Also, the cost of services that organizations purchase is continuing to increase as firms try to focus on what they do best. More emphasis is being placed on spend management and on those that are responsible for locating and managing the suppliers that provide the materials and services needed to meet customer expectations. Sourcing and procurement are generally responsible for this task. A focus on spend management is not new to the purchasing area. But the increasing magnitude of requested reductions is driving purchasing departments to think creatively about ways to more strategically manage the supply base and continue to drive unnecessary costs from everyday purchases. The task of sourcing and procurement professionals is to find an effective means to balance the demands of both internal and external customers with economic considerations while taking into account the potential for supply disruption and technological change. The challenge is to establish both the philosophy and practice of an integrated supply system as part of the firm’s strategic positioning. Strategic purchasing involves finding ways to use supplier capabilities to drive sales, leverage the purchasing spend to achieve and/or maintain competitive advantage, and use the supply market to strengthen the company’s strategic position. Historically, purchasing has been overlooked as a strategic contributor and instead viewed as more of a tactical function with a largely internal focus. The tendency of even the most seasoned buyers has been to react to problems rather than proactively incorporate the strategic focus needed to support the current operating environment. The primary focus of procurement is to support the firm’s operational requirements by ensuring uninterrupted flow of the appropriate quality materials, products, and services. However, purchasers must do so in the most efficient and effective manner, in light of limited resources. The key for sourcing managers is to minimize risk to the organization. To minimize vulnerabilities in supply and make the most of the organization’s buying power, purchasers should assess and segment purchased materials, services, and components in terms of importance to the organization and difficulty in accessing the materials. This segmentation process allows purchasers to take a more strategic perspective on the management of the supplies and the supply base while applying more appropriate cost management tools and negotiation strategies. Using the segmentation system developed by Kraljic (1983) as a foundation, four major categories emerge (see Figure 1). Noncritical (low importance, low supply risk), leverage (high importance, low supply risk), strategic (high importance, high supply risk), and bottleneck (low importance, high supply risk). Each of the categories requires a distinctive and strategic purchasing approach. Each of these classifications will be described in the paragraphs below. In the case of non-critical, or generic purchases, the focus is on finding the lowest possible purchase price from a field of many suppliers. For these types of items, there are low switching costs allowing for easy â€Å"supplier hopping†. Typical procurement approaches to these types of purchases include the use of purchasing cards (p-cards) and short-term contracts. Relationships with the suppliers of these types of products are often arms-length and transactional. Office supplies and paper purchases typically fall into this category. Buyers use competitive bidding, price indices, price lists and catalogs to facilitate the buying process. The suppliers of these types of materials and services understand that low price and ease of purchase are key to retaining buyers. Staples, for example, introduced the â€Å"Easy Button†. Buyers that are in the market for office supplies can download software directly to their computer, shop from on-line catalogs, and use their p-cards to streamline the purchases of these generic items. Many suppliers are capable of providing the products and services that fall into the leverage category; these are the more â€Å"commodity-type† items. These types of products and services have a great importance to the organization in terms of volume purchased, percentage of total purchase cost, or impact on product quality or business growth. The purchasing decision for these items is generally based on consolidation, leveraging volumes is key to success. Some approaches used to leverage volume include supply base reduction and reverse auctions. The idea is to combine the requirements of different operating units and capitalize on supplier fixed cost allocation and improved productivity. The following example makes the point. A technology company had multiple business units all with individuals responsible for the purchase of customer contact center services. Through informal discussions about the performance of the suppliers of these services, the heads of the business units discovered that some were using the same suppliers, but being charged different rates and there were multiple suppliers providing almost identical services across the organization. The purchasing area was called in to help better manage the purchase of these services. They followed a typical sourcing process (see Figure 2) and put these services out for bid to both existing and new suppliers. The final pool of suppliers included fewer suppliers, volumes were leveraged, the price that was being paid ultimately fell, and the relationship with the suppliers improved. The company instituted a single point of contact for the suppliers and an end-to-end procure to pay management process (Ellram and Tate, 2004). The strategic items have more complexity and risk involved in the purchase often because of limited availability or fewer suppliers with the technical capabilities to provide the goods or services. These are the items that are the most critical for the organization to obtain to ensure success and meet the demand for products. There is much more collaboration and integration between the buying and supplying firm with a focus on continuous improvement. Buying firms often enter into long term, cost-based contracts with the suppliers of these items and may in fact engage the suppliers early in the process of new product development. Buyers look to these suppliers for innovation and cost reduction ideas. Ford and Mobil for example entered into a broad based trategic alliance to speed the development and integration of break-through fuel and vehicle technologies (Dieselnet, 1998). The intent of these strategic alliances is to help strengthen collaboration, and develop a sustainable business model. Bottleneck items, or items that are more project oriented or unique, have a high level of supply market complexity. These types of purchases often consume a disproportionate amount of time, relative to the item’s value. The focus for purchasing is to simplify the procurement of these items, or if possible get it out of this quadrant and into the leverage or strategic quadrants. Companies buying products or services that fall in the category could participate in buying consortiums to better leverage the spend and minimize the associated risk. For example, a utility company was paying a significant amount of money to audit their suppliers. A number of their competitors were using the same suppliers and spending the same money for the audits. These companies agreed to hire a third party to perform the audits, thus consolidating the spend and simplifying the purchase. Another company was procuring project-based environmental services. Each project required the buyer to closely manage the supplier to ensure that each step in the process was completed in a timely and accurate fashion and that payments were made as promised. There were many of these projects occurring simultaneously with different suppliers. One supplier became an â€Å"expert† in this area allowing the buying firm to assign the supplier more projects, thus increasing the level of importance and moving it to the strategic category. Successful managers today require a broad view of the procurement and sourcing areas and the strategic role that this function can play in an integrated supply chain. Organizations need to take a long-term perspective, avoiding the low price sourcing temptation without considering the total cost and the total value provided by the function and its relationship to the supply base. Purchasing needs to strategically manage its supplies and its supply base. The first step in doing this is to understand what is being purchased, the importance of the purchase to the organization, and the complexity of the supply market. The goal is to ensure that the supplies that are purchased add value to the customer’s that ultimately buy our goods and services.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Does Herodotus believe in Cultural Relativism Essay Example for Free

Does Herodotus believe in Cultural Relativism Essay For its time and place, The Histories of Herodotus is a work of remarkably expansive scope. To set the stage for the wars between Greece and Persia ( 490-479 B. C. ), Herodotus describes the geographical and cultural background and reviews the political history of Lydia, Media, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Scythia, Libya, Ionia, and various Greek city-states in Asia Minor, on the Aegean islands, and on the European mainland. To record the results of his research (historie, in Greek) with the greatest vigor and accuracy, Herodotus traveled to many of these places and gathered firsthand data from native informants. For this type of research, in the words of a modern commentator, Herodotus merits the title not only of the father of history; he is also the father of comparative anthropology. Among the various classes of information which Herodotus seems to have emphasized, thus suggesting a pattern for later descriptions, were marriage customs, religious rites, burial practices, and food habits. The description of these four categories of traits, or social institutions, were not necessarily executed in the round for every tribe that happened to stroll across the pages of the Histories; but they were mentioned often enough to indicate the direction taken by his curiosity, and the content of the questions he probably put to informants. Herodotus, the ancient Greek, was a cheerful, inquisitive, rationalistic extrovert who traveled over his world to discover the facts, who took delight in telling a good story but usually avoided the temptation to wander very far from sober common sense. His cultural relativism is well known and much discussed, but it is particularly noteworthy that Greeks and barbarians are placed on a equal footing at the outset. Distinctions between Greek and non-Greek break down as the work progresses: the first barbarian for whom we get any detailed information is the Hellenized Lydian king, Croesus; the divisions of lands customary among the Greeks that separate Greek and non-Greek peoples are purely arbitrary; we learn of the Phoenician descent of Spartas kings; and Herodotus states that the descendants of Perseus came to be counted as Greeks. The key dichotomy is not the Hellenic-barbarian bipolarity, but rather the opposition of the ordered society based on law and the arbitrary rule of the despot. But political and social institutions are fragile structures, and Herodotus gives no guarantee that the Greek superiority at the time of the Persian Wars, which was based upon those institutions, will last. In fact his work closes on an ominous note that appears to warn imperial Athens that it is in danger of becoming, if it has not already become, the barbarian. We are presented with the gruesome picture of the crucifixion of the Persian satrap Artayctes at the command of the Athenian commander Xanthippus, father of Pericles, and a piece of wisdom from the Persian founding father, Cyrus, on the dangers of success and affluence. And it is well to remember that Herodotus wrote long after the Persian threat had passed, when Athenian imperial power was at its apogee. Herodotos interest in reciprocity is symptomatic of contemporary philosophy, not least in Ionia. Moreover, Herodotos very project, his attempt to explain and explore the Persian Wars, can be considered as a study of reciprocity in cross-cultural interaction, not least because those wars were for Herodotos a stage in a reciprocal, cross-cultural process, as he asserts in the proem. Indeed, war itself may be seen as an exchange, a reciprocal undertaking: the tactics of the Skythian Idanthyrsos allow him to wage war while explicitly rejecting the relationship that war usually entails. Herodotos origins in western Asia Minor, a key area of interface between Greek and non-Greek culture, may have led him to give particular thought to the issue of cross-cultural reciprocity, as also to the Persian Wars, for which the Ionian Revolt had been the catalyst, if not the cause. At the same time, the justice and injustice of imperialism remained a burning issue through the fifth century into the fourth, and not only Persian imperialism, but also Athenian, Spartan, and Macedonian. The Persian Wars were the great antecedents of the Peloponnesian War, in the early years of which Herodotos seems to have completed his work. The Persians themselves continued to play a major role in the politics of the Greek world: the onset of the Peloponnesian War seems to have inspired new attempts to deal with them, and with other non-Greeks, as indicated in comic style in Aristophanes Akharnians of 425 BC. 25 This is understandable, for it was to be Persian resources that would give ultimate victory to the Spartans in that war. Thus, it is quite possible that crosscultural reciprocity was a topical concern in Athens and elsewhere when Herodotos completed his work, though the issue had been close to the centre of Greek preoccupations at least since the time of the Persian Wars, Herodotos subject. The Persian Wars had reinforced a Hellenic self-image, defined by contrast with the barbarian identity, and had thereby further problematized relationships between Greek and non-Greek. In particular, Greeks (especially Athenians, perhaps) could and did use their defeat of Persia as confirmation of a broader superiority over the barbarian. In exploring the difficulties of forming relationships with the other, Herodotos Histories present readers with failures and disasters, arising primarily from ignorance, over-confidence, and cultural chauvinism. There is a definite element of pessimism in the Histories, for the inability to penetrate beyond contingent nomoi and thereby to see other as self is taken to be an observable feature of human nature, as manifested throughout the narrative. In particular, wars are seen to be the products of injustice and attendant ignorance. But there is also hope; for the author claims for himself the ability to rise above commonplace failings and offers to provide his readers with a better understanding of themselves, of others, and of reciprocity. Like Kroisos, the reader may pass into a state of deeper understanding through advice confirmed by experience. Where Kroisos had the advice of Solon and suffered personal disaster, the reader has the advice of Herodotos the author and suffers vicarious disaster, experiencing experiences. Baldry notices that Herodotos calls into question the whole dichotomy between Greek and barbarian, when he presents the Egyptian perspective, according to which barbarians are not those who do not speak Greek, but those who do not speak Egyptian. At the same time, as Laurot has shown, Herodotos displays no interest in condemning barbarians as such, nor in subordinating them to Greeks. Rather, his presentation in the Histories of nomoi of the barbarian other offers insights into the nomoi of the Greek self (or better, selves), insofar as the various Greek nomoi constitute Herodotos principal frame of reference and benchmark. However, as Rosellini and Said valuably stress, Herodotos does not present the barbarian other as a monolithic unity, any more than he presents the Greeks themselves as a unity: rather he ranges across the different nomoi that exist among barbarians and through the complexities of interaction between various barbarian peoples. The Histories are not so much a mirror, as Hartog would have it, but a hall of mirrors with multiple reflections. The key point is that in the Histories cultural differences, however profound they may be, are presented as secondary to a common human nature and a common human condition: in that sense too Greek is barbarian, self is other. The categories of Greek and barbarian are familiar to Herodotos, but on his view, as the proem indicates, they need not entail the subordination of the barbarian, whose achievements are to be celebrated also. For Herodotos, it is humanness that is the natural identity and the group identity that matters, and man-made variations are merely contingent, for all their exotic character and interest. Confirmation of such a view of Herodotos may be found in the condemnatory response of Plutarch, for whom Herodotos is far too positive about barbarians. The ferocity of Plutarchs response (indeed, his very decision to write a response at all) further indicates the strength of the challenge that Herodotos case presented to the smug asseverations of Greek specialness that seem to have developed through the fifth century and which Plutarch in his day assumed to be right and proper. Cross-cultural interaction was central to Herodotos project in the Histories. At the same time, the problematic nature of reciprocity the uncertainty that arises from its under-negotiation is particularly apparent in interaction across cultures. Indeed, Herodotos concern with the problematics of reciprocity as a phenomenon can be seen as intimately bound up with his concern with cross-cultural interaction. Of course, Herodotos starting-point is a matter of mere speculation. But we can and should observe the organic relationship between cross-cultural interaction, crosscultural reciprocity, and the problematics of reciprocity as a phenomenon. It is precisely within the problematics of cross-cultural reciprocity that the appreciation of cultural relativism is particularly necessary. Therefore, if we move from the claim, already mentioned, that there is a strong sense in which the Histories are about reciprocity to ask why Herodotos should be so interested in the phenomenon, I would suggest that an answer is to be found not in the topicality of reciprocity as a theme in the later fifth century, but in the rationale of Herodotos very undertaking. A broadlybased treatment of the Persian Wars by its very nature invites a simultaneous and inherent treatment of reciprocity as a phenomenon. To examine societies is to explore forms of reciprocities. All the more so, when societies invite comparisons through their It also seems clear that Herodotus approached the task of describing manners and customs with a fairly definite idea of what constituted a culture, and a fairly specific set of questions for evoking details from informants. The criteria which separated one group from another and gave individuality to his descriptive portraits were common descent, common language, common religion, and the observance of like manners in the smaller details of living, such as dress, diet, and dwellings. The Argippeans, who lived at the foot of the Ural Mountains, were presented vividly as being bald from birth, speaking a language of their own, using no weapons, dispensing justice in the quarrels of their neighbors, and dressing after the manner of the Scythians. They lived on the juice of a species of cherry, making the lees into a solid cake which they ate instead of meat. They dwell each man, he said, under a tree, covering it in winter with a white felt cloth, but using no felt in summer. For each group, in other words, seven categories of cultural fact are given. We are told their geographical location and something of their environment. We are told of their language, their dress, their food, their dwellings, their form of self-defense, or their lack of it, their prestige as judges among other peoples. On the other hand, concerning Egypt, one of the more important culture areas, Herodotus says at the outset that he will have to extend his remarks to some length. This countryits climate, its people and animalswas a constant surprise and challenge to the observer, very much as Japan with its customs and Australia with its fauna have challenged the modern traveller. For the Egyptians the number of cultural categories evoked far exceeds the seven used in describing the Argippeans. As for history, Bodins belief in its power to confer knowledge concerning the ways of mankind was unfaltering; and much of both the Methodus and the Republique is devoted to the assemblage of documentation to support this contention. Never before perhaps had a writer on politics or ethnography amassed so large a body of dated materials or laid so large a literature under tribute. He was well-read, not only in the law and the Bible, but in the Talmud and the Cabala; in the ancients, including Herodotus, Strabo, Cicero, Tacitus, and Caesar; in the modern historians, such as Joinville, Froissart, Monstrelet, Commines; and in the travelers, Marco Polo, Leo Africanus, and Las Casas. As they err, said he, who study the maps of regions before they have learned accurately the relation of the whole universe and the separate parts to each other and to the whole, so they are not less mistaken who think they can understand particular histories before they have judged the order and sequence of universal history and of all times, set forth as it were in a table.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Puritan View: God And Human Nature

Puritan View: God And Human Nature History is cyclical. That is the simple nature of it. There are always old ideas, traditional views of the way the world works that have been in place for a long time that are supplanted by new, radical ideas. These new ideas stay in place and become tradition until they are replaced by newer ideas and so on and so forth. That is the way of history and it is no different in the history of America. New England was born with the Puritan view of God and human nature and it stuck with that view for over a hundred years. Into this Puritan society, into a Puritan family, Benjamin Franklin was born. Benjamin Franklin did not agree with Puritans views and challenged them, with his Deist views. Deist ideas on God and human nature were vastly different than those of the Puritans, in that they disagreed on the nature of God and the afterlife which caused them to view human nature through different scopes. Deists, and for that matter Franklin, did not believe in the God of the Christians (or of Jesus being the Messiah). They believed in God as a creator, or as Franklin refers to him a First Mover and Maker of the Universe (Franklin, 6). The belief was that God created the universe with its many laws and then simply let it run by itself, a belief which Franklin shared. The Deist God was all-wise, all-good, [and] all powerful (Franklin, 6). Franklin believed that because God was all-powerful that there can be nothing either existing or acting in the Universe against or without his consent (Franklin, 6). Franklin furthered this thought with the belief that if it was true, and what he consents to must be good, because He is good; therefore Evil doth not exist (Franklin, 6). Franklin addressed a possible counterargument against this belief, one that might say things like murder of theft are inherently evil. Franklin counters this by saying to suppose any Thing to exist or be done, contrary to the Will of the Almighty, is to suppose him not almighty (Franklin, 6). Furthermore, if these acts are of God and God is all-good, then these things are inherently good. Puritans believed God to be intimately involved in their lives, punishing them and rewarding them as they sinned and did good respectively. The Puritan view of God was of a very judgmental God who used both wrath and mercy as He saw fit. Wigglesworth refers God being a judge several times in his poem. When Mary Rowlandson was taken captive by the Native Americans, she believed God was punishing her for not going to church and other sins and that it was righteousà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [for] God to cut off the thread of [her] life, and cast [her] out of his presence for ever (Rowlandson, 3). Upon reading a Bible given to her by one of her captors, Rowlandson found There was mercy promised again, if we would return to him by repentance (Rowlandson, 5). This is the way most Puritans viewed their lives: in terms of what they did to please and anger God. John Dane attributed each trouble he encountered, such as an allergic reaction to a wasp sting and palsy, to Gods retribution for sins he had co mmitted. He then says that when he did reform It pleased God in a short time to ease [him]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and [he] stood in awe of Gods judgments (Dane, 4). Puritans did what they could to please God, and accepted His punishment when they sinned. Yet, Puritans believed that deep down they were all evil and only a few of them would be truly redeemed. The Deist Franklin did not believe that God created an afterlife for human beings, which is to say he did not believe in Heaven or Hell. Franklin instead believed in pleasure and pain; pain being the misfortunes and sorrows in life and pleasure being the satisfaction of the desire to be free from pain. Franklin believed that pleasure and pain are in balance in life and that one could not exist without the other. He believed that pleasure was wholly caused by Pain and, by his definition of pleasure, therefore pleasure must be equal, or in exact proportion to pain (Franklin, 7). Franklin really stresses this balance of pleasure and pain. He perceives a possible counterargument against this belief as well. Such an argument might object that there is no such balance in life because it is easy to see people who live their whole lives in misery and pain and die without ever being relieved of this pain. Franklin counters this by saying that no one can be proper Judges of the good or bad For tune of Others (Franklin, 8), which is to say that the balance of pleasure and pain is individualistic, and no one can say that was causes him or her pain causes anyone else pain. Franklin furthers this by saying that even if a person lives their whole life in pain, the receive release, and therefore pleasure, from this pain when they die. He says, Pain, though exquisite, is not so to the last moments of lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and tis quite an exquisite Pleasure to behold the immediate Approaches of Rest (Franklin, 8). In the end, there will be a balance of pleasure and pain. Franklin sees that as there is this balance, there is no need for an afterlife. One would not need heaven to make up for earthly pains, as they would have been balanced out in life. Puritans believed fiercely in Heaven and Hell, and that God had created both places of afterlife. God predestined everyones fate, and chose only a select few to be saved and spend eternity in Heaven. Most people were damned to spend eternity in Hell because of Original Sin. Thomas Shepard said, Your best duties are tainted, poisoned, and mingled with sin (Wigglesworth, 4). Thus, because of Original Sin no human action could be inherently good; and he went on to say your good duties can not save you, yet your bad works will damn you (Wigglesworth, 4). It was only by Gods grace that a person could be saved. The pain one experienced on earth was punishment for sin, and only received relief if they were chosen by God to go to Heaven. According to Wigglesworth, the greatest relief of Heaven is that saints are made sinless and finally do not have to fear forfeiting Gods love (Wigglesworth, 4). Puritans believed that the people who went to Hell deserved it, even so much as Wigglesworth desc ribes a father learning of his son being sent to Hell and says he doth rejoyce to hear Christs voice/ adjudging him to pain (Wigglesworth, 4). Puritans accepted the fact that most of them would be condemned to Hell. Because Franklins God was all-good, everything created was all-good, and there was no afterlife, he viewed life (specifically human nature) differently than most people. It allowed Franklin to believe that human beings were naturally good-natured and to place importance on the mortal life. Thus, Franklin believed in the importance of self-improvement and virtue without God demanding a need for it. Franklin believed that anyone could improve their station, both economically and morally. Franklin even said hed formd most of [his] ingenious acquaintance into a club of mututal improvement which [they] called the JUNTO (Franklin, 10). In Franklins words, this club was designed to discuss Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy (science)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [with the] sincere spirit of inquiry after truth (Franklin, 10). Franklin truly believed that people could grasp their purpose in life by pondering these things and thereby better themselves. Yet, perhaps the most important concept Franklin came up with in regards to human nature were his thirteen virtues. Franklins thirteen virtues were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility (Franklin, 12-13). In this, one can see how Franklin placed value on virtue outside of a religious need for it. Franklin said that in these virtues there is no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of any particular sect. [He] had purposely avoided themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [so] that it might be serviceable to people in all religions (Franklin, 15). Franklin said his virtues were in every ones interestà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ who wished to be happy even in this world (Franklin, 15).For Franklin, the mortal life was all one had and it was ones duty as a human being to become morally perfect and achieve ones fullest potential. Puritans had a completely different take on human nature, formed from their belief about God and the afterlife. To Puritans, human beings were naturally evil and they placed heavy importance on the afterlife. Dane was so convinced of his evil nature, he thought that it was a greater evil to live and sin against God than to kill [himself] (Dane, 6). The mortal life was about living in ways to please God or else risk his wrath and punishment. The Puritan life was centered solely on God because of his intimate involvement in their life. Dane puts it as Beating my thoughts on Gods infinite love took such an impression of my heart as that I thought I could do anything for God or suffer anything for God (Dane, 7). Dane warns that if one does not live their life like this they will bring sorrow and affliction on [their] heads and heartsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ to their great grief and sorrow (Dane, 7). It was not by their own hands that they could make themselves better, only by Gods providence. Bec ause Puritans accepted that most of them would go to Hell, it was their responsibility in the mortal life to do all they could to please God. At the same time, those predestined to be saved had the same responsibility or else risk eternal damnation. Yet most Puritans did not know what fate awaited them, so all had to live as if they were among the saved. The Deist Franklins God was all-good and did not create an afterlife, therefore it was human nature to be good and live their mortal life to its fullest potential. The Puritan God was intimately involved in their lives, judged them harshly for misdeeds, and eternally damned most of them. Therefore, it was human nature to be evil and sin and they had to live their lives by what God wanted in the hope that they were the ones God had chosen to save. It was because of their differing views on God that cause Franklin and Puritans to have such a different view on human nature.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaways Oh, Oh Essa

Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaway's Oh, Oh      Ã‚   The French poet and essayist Louis Aragon, in his Paris Peasant, wrote that "light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error--we only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash" (Aragon 18).   Aragon noted that the world is full of contrasts, and it is through those contrasts that we live and understand who we are and why we are here.   Without an understanding of light, Aragon argues, we cannot understand what darkness really is.   Or, without an awareness as to the concept of truth, one cannot possibly error, for the act cannot be defined.   In William Hathaway's poem "Oh, Oh," the poet uses language, word choices, images, onamatopoeic descriptions, and even the title of the poem to define the intrusion of the mechanical harshness of the world into the carefree land of nature.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The images, content, and focus of the poem change with the intrusion of the train.   Before the protagonist's girl notices the train, the two characters are concerned with the cows, grass, and simply ambling down a country lane.   But, as soon as the train approaches, and as it passes, the characters are no longer concerned with nature.   Rather, they suddenly begin dreaming of "being president" (11) and of "wonderful, faraway places" (14).   This switch from the serenity of nature to the dreams of the world finally ends with the poems last line -- a punishment or at least a warning.   The tranquil and peaceful nature suddenly becomes filled with "fifty Hell's Angels" (17).   But, more than simply motorcycles waiting at a railroad crossing, Hathaway has personified the motorcycles creating the mechanical Hell... ...orld where two universes are defined through their contrast.   Through his world choices, images, and even his title, we are transported to a picturesque country landscape with "moo cows chomping daisies" (2) and "maple dappled summer sunlight" (7).   Standing at a stark contrast to this land is the "lit headlight" (8) of a passing train and "growling [...] Hell's Angels" (17).   Hathaway, through his firm grip of language, has recorded a poem that, through contrasts, gives us an understanding of both the natural and mechanical world in an attempt to show us how we can "look / eagerly to the road ahead" (16-17).       Works Cited Aragon, Louis. Paris Peasant. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1926. Hathaway, William. "Oh, Oh." The Bedford Introduction to   Literature: Leading, Thinking, and Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford, 1996. 593-94.      

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Tourism :: essays papers

Tourism In truth, the attributes of tourism have changed rapidly during the twentieth century. Today, it is virtually impossible even to avoid the effect that the tourism industry has on the world. On the following lines I shall in an explaining voice treat the subject of tourism and I wager you'll find it rather interesting. First and for most; Why do we become tourists? What is this incredible force which drives us to leave the safe shelter of our homes to travel to places some times thousands of miles from our native lands? Well, in order to answer that, we need to find out the benefits of tourism. It's usually us people from the richer countries in the west that travel abroad as tourists. This became possible during the early twentieth century, when the industrial revolution had reached most western countries in a big way, and the governments had begun to get more and more democratic. They started to have governmental foundings with the intention of giving people who worked in different sectors their wages in sp Although, most Americans would probably not be so negative about it. The American Dream that influences their society speaks for the strength of the individual. That is, if you really want to be rich, you can be, as long as you're not afraid of working hard. So, people obviously like being tourists, and the even more obvious reasons for that can be the need for something different to occur in ones life, not always being stuck in the same old tracks, over and over again. Or, that we need to relax, which you apparently can't do at home, only abroad. One classic reason for tourism is of course that it is a social benefit; You'll get a lot of attention from people back home both before and after the journey, which indeed can be just as much, if not more of a pleasure then the holiday itself. Tourism, according to the Department of National Heritage, apparently outnumbers most any other line of business, from construction industry to raising cattle. Today, it is more or less well known to people that tourism has grown to massive proportions, being almost the largest industry in the world. This of course brings along with it heaps of problems, connected to the fact that where there is money to be earned (and thus power to be controlled), man has neither moral nor restrictions to prevent her from doing just about all she can to exploit that source of wealth. In the compendium, there is an article from the Morning Star that talks about how people in the 70s

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Essay Childhood Obesity Essay

Childhood Obesity is a health issue, cause by having excess body weight as well as excess of body fat. This is a serious problem for the future of society especially now that our children are not getting enough physical activities because of technology and unhealthy eating patterns. Children who are obese are likely to be obese as adults. Therefore, this habits can take our children to have serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol, and many others health problems. The environment in which we live is been also part of this problem. Children are surrounded by unhealthy commercials and bad influence from their parents. Beverages like sodas which contains approximately 400 calories, and unhealthy choices of meals have contributed to this epidemic cause. Leading our children by giving them examples of how to prevent this kind of problems could be a solution for a better lifestyle and future. It is important that parents support their children by helping them do a diet and physical activities. If your child look at you as a good example of how to stay healthy, they are more likely to be and stay active for their own. Instead of leaving them playing video games, take them to the park and have fun. Being able to spend more time with your kids and being part of their life, can take them to be better not only mentally, but physically. Childhood obesity is been an enormous problem for our society. Furthermore, it is our responsibility to help the future generations by giving them a good example of living and love for those who needs the most. Web, www.obesityaction.org, www.healthychildren.org

Monday, September 16, 2019

Educating Special Needs Students Essay

This essay is entitled Educating Special Needs Students, the author will discuss and several important issues, which will be the following; the defining of Mental Retardation a term the author despises, Autism, Severe Disabilities and Multiple Disabilities, also their causes, and the impact of these disabilities have on the education of students with Mental Retardation. In addition to the above mentioned, the essay will identify areas of curriculum, necessary for students with severe disabilities and will explain why. Addressed also will be the following; using the authors’ local school district, Las Vegas Nevada, an investigation into the policies, procedures, and programs for the education, of students with Mental Retardation, Autism, and or Severe Multiple Disabilities. Lastly, an explanation of how these policies, programs, and procedures, either address or ignore the area of curriculum, the author has listed within the content of the essay. According to the Association for Retarded Citizens or (AAMR), Mental Retardation is defined as; a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. Though its causes can be attributed to a variable amount of many things, here are just a few of known caused medical factors; Genetic conditions, which have been the results from abnormalities of genes inherited from one or both parents, errors when genes combine, or from other disorders of the genes caused during pregnancy by infections, overexposure to x-rays and other factors. Problems during pregnancy, some of these problems, in the opinion of the author, are definitely avoidable such as; the use of alcohol or drugs by the pregnant mother which can cause mental retardation. Other problems exist too such as, Malnutrition, rubella, glandular disorders and diabetes, and cytomegalovirus. Many of these types of illnesses can be traced back to the mother and often times in the early trimester of the pregnancy. Another of hese causes is Poverty and cultural deprivation, in which children in poor families may become mentally retarded because of malnutrition, disease-producing conditions, and inadequate medical care. This brings us to one of â€Å"the most† controversial topics of late; â€Å"Autism†. It is defined as; a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, a mental condition in which fantasy dominates over reality, as a symptom of schizophrenia and other disorde rs. The causes of this disability are still up for debate however, the Autism Society of America (ASA) defines it as the following; â€Å"Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. The causes of this disability are attributed to the following; Depakote, also called Valproate, an anti-seizure medication, taken during pregnancy, Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder, Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting only females, Tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder and Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Lastly defined are Severe Disabilities and Multiple Disabilities, those who traditionally have been labeled, as having severe to profound cognitive impairments or intellectual disabilities. It is difficult to define this term precisely because, during the authors’ research, there is no one clear definition that; covers all the conditions that special educators and psychologists know about this disability. So, what is the impact of disabilities on the education of students with mental retardation? Well compared to their peers, most students with severe and multiple disabilities learn more slowly, forget more readily, and experience problems generalizing skills from situation to situation. This makes educating students with this particular disability more challenging and often times harder to manage. â€Å"The public education of these students must start early and continue at some level throughout life. Second, all students typically need speech and language intervention, while many others will need physical and occupational therapy. Students with sensory impairments may need interpreters and mobility trainers, while some with medical needs may require nursing services or supervision. Third, because the educational teams of students are often large, close collaboration between members is essential if their expertise is to result in improved student functioning. The benefits of integrating therapy into natural activities are now being widely accepted over the traditional practice of isolated, or pull-out, therapy. † The essay will now turn its focus to the attention of identifying areas of curriculum, necessary for students with severe disabilities and will explain why. To begin, the Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975, federal emphasis shifted from curriculum development to preparing and implementing individualized educational programs for students with disabilities (Meyen, 1996). Why, because in the opinion of the author, every student in every state deserves to have the best available education the Department of Education has out there also, with the use of modern technology there is no obstacle to hard to overcome. The following statement illustrates the authors’ point. Students with complex healthcare issues, significant developmental delays, and severe multiple disabilities require approaches that offer intensive levels of support. Students who are blind, deaf, deaf-blind, and autistic may in some cases require the same degree of support, but they also require more specialized curriculum and teaching approaches (in, for example, technology and literacy). Additionally, such students may require specialized resources from related service providers (such as orientation and mobility instructors or audiologists). the National Center on Accessible Instructional Material. In the conclusion of this essay, using the authors’ local school district, Las Vegas Nevada, an investigation into the policies, procedures, and programs for the education, of students with Mental Retardation, Autism, and or Severe Multiple Disabilities, and an explanation of how these policies, programs, and procedures, either address or ignore the area of curriculum, the author has listed within the content of the essay. According to Charlene Green, a teacher in the Nevada Clark County School district, she’s seen the number of children with autism spectrum disorders in her charge increase from 96 to more than 1,000. Green, the associate superintendent for student support services in the Las Vegas-area district, oversees those children’s education–an expensive, complicated task. Moreover she says, â€Å"The school system was at a nadir in dealing with the needs of its autistic children and their parents. We were being bombarded with due process requests,† she says, by parents who sought legal recourse against a school system they believed wasn’t providing the necessary education for their children, as schools are required to do under the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). † Educating students with Mental Retardation; While the author has lived in the city of Las Vegas for over eight years now, there is no clear Policy, nor procedure in which the author could find to answer this question, to his surprise the list below was researched and readily available; Las Vegas, Nevada Courses – Regis University-Colorado college †¦ Special needs jobs in Las Vegas, NV | careerjet. com, Special education jobs in Las Vegas, NV | careerjet. com and this list just goes on from here. But under the Department of Education in Nevada it reads as follows; Nevada Department of Education Office of Special Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, and School Improvement Programs; Under federal and state law, each student with a disability is entitled to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Special education programs in Nevada serve students with identified disabilities in one of the twelve categories established in Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 388. School districts must provide the services necessary to assure FAPE for all students with disabilities, without regard to the adequacy of state revenues to support the costs. In closing and in the opinion of the author, â€Å"we†, this means everyone who works in the educational industry as a Teacher, Principle, or Administrator, must focus on all available data to, not only include but, to educate every student no matter what the disability.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Financial markets

Financial assets are made up of securities, stocks and derivatives. These are claims to the cash flow generated by real, tangible assets which are the lands, buildings and machineries we use. These pieces of paper are how citizens of highly developed countries increase their wealth. Wealth generation involves risk, for no business activity is certain to provide returns. Financial markets allow investors to participate in money-making ventures without being physically present in the project site.Most risk tolerant individuals prefer stocks, for it has the potential to yield very high returns, while conservative ones go for bonds which provides a steady, fixed income. In this activity, stock trading is the main focus. Objectives Just like any investor, generating cash flow was the primary goal. The amount of cash to be gained from trading should compensate the risk undertaken. The goal was to achieve steady growth. The expected was return is 40%. After setting the required return, a po rtfolio strategy was chosen.Assets were then selected which would comprise the efficient portfolio– provides the highest return for a given level of risk. Fundamental analysis was the method used to pick the stocks. Diversification was another tactic used to maximize return while spreading the risk. Construct a portfolio Portfolio construction was a tedious task. I had to weigh the risk and returns, and sometimes, to trust my gut feel. Stock prices, as studies have shown follow a random walk movement. The approach used was a top-down portfolio construction. A portfolio is basically a collection of investment assets.The type of assets to be held was first determined. It was then followed by security analysis to pick out the stocks deemed profitable. Diversification was one principle used in choosing the stocks. It simply meant that equities from different industries were held in the portfolio so that risk exposure was limited. Shares from the software industry (RIMM, JAVA), ar ms(SWHC), pharmaceutical (GERN), computer (PALM), insurance (HUM), health care(HMA), power (FL), SAM, metals and mining(AUY, AA) ,oil and gas(IEO), index fund(SWPIX), cement(CX),AXP Asset Analysis Fundamental analysis was mainly used in the decisions undertaken.This approach uses earnings and dividend prospects of the firm, expectations of future interest rates, and risk evaluation of the firm to determine proper stock prices. It relies on the company's financial health indicators. The stocks’ annual growth rate, quarterly earnings records, and P/E (price-to-earnings) ratios were measured. Historical data was also used. One such statistic is the EPS, or earnings-per-share ranking. PALM stocks were bought since the firm’s return on investment was stated at 2470. 70%. Also, on the day that it was traded, it was lower priced.Smith and Weson, SWHC had a P/E ratio of 5. 50%, an ROE of 19. 7%. Thus, a total of 4000 shares of SWCH were bought. Alcoa, or AA’s ROE was 16 . 20%. Its EBITDA was 5. 45 B. Meanwhile, its P/E ratio was 11. 60 and its annual dividend was at . 68 per share. Alcoa looks financially healthy, but was expensive, so only 1000 shares were purchased. Similarly, FPL’s ROE was 14. 6%. Its P/E ratio was 12. 7%. Its EBITDA was 4. 47 B. The market values FPL shares highly. But, I found it unsmart to invest in highly valued stocks, because market perceptions fluctuate wildly. Thus, I only acquired 700 shares of FPL.RIMM had an ROE of 30. 60%. Its P/E ratio was 50%. For me, RIMM shares were really costly. In fact, it was has the highest cost per share in my portfolio. But I was attracted to its financial forecast. Furthermore, its 52 week high was at $148 so I found the $80 per share enticing. I thus bought 1000 shares from RIMM. HUM had an ROE of 19. 9% and a P/E ratio of 18. 00. It was quite overpriced, so I only bought 1000 shares. HMA was the lowest priced stock in my portfolio. But, I decided to purchase it believing that dem and for health care services will increase in the near future.CX, compared with its competitor, Heidelberg cement had higher earnings and historically displayed returns higher than the market average. I bought 1000 shares. I also bought SWPIX, an index fund as a comparison for the return of my trading activities. Event Selection One of the most remarkable news was the launching of PALM’s Pre. With the belief that the Pre will be hot in the market, just like Apple’s I-pod, I bought 4,000 shares from PALM. I deem that the future value of PALM will increase more than two-fold once the Pre is introduced. The hype will push the price of its stock.Thereafter, I can sold my shares at a profit. In addition, the popularity of smart phones, or phones which serve more than just talking devices was forecasted to increase steadily in the near future. Aside from purchasing PALM stocks, I decided to buy shares from BlackBerry’s maker, RIMM. News of the global swine flu outbrea k prompted me to purchase HMA shares. HMA , a healthcare provider would have more profits if the flu would become widespread. In addition, Citigroup upgraded HMA shares from hold to buy. Meanwhile, the news on the pending sale of JAVA drove me to sell my 1000 shares.Monster stocks which were identified two weeks in a row included AUY. The information urged me to buy 3000 shares of AUY. Behavioral Finance Even if information processing were perfect, it seemed that investors tend towards irrational decisions. In hindsight, these behavioral biases largely affected how I framed questions of risk versus return. Psychologists have found that individuals blame themselves more when an unconventional decision turned out poorly. Based on regret aversion theory, buying a blue-chip portfolio that declines in value is not as painful as experiencing similar losses on an unknown start-up firm.Losses on the blue-chip stock can be more easily attributed to grim luck rather than bad decision. To avoi d future remorse, I did not include stocks from start up firms. I considered less-well-known firms to be more risky. Even if potential gains can be realized from new firms due to their tremendous growth capacity and often undervalued stocks, I steered clear from such path. Instead, I trudged towards the tried and tested road and concentrated on well-established companies like Alcoa, Smith and Weson and Cemex, and popular companies like JAVA and RIMM.Availability bias is rooted on the concept that people base their decisions on the most recent and meaningful events. The more current or up-to-date the information, the more profound would be its effect on the investor. In the late 1990's, investors got caught up in the internet mania, which caused them to disregard the risks. I suppose that people naturally get lost in the moment. In fact, I purchased HUM stocks based mainly on the news that Humana was named top payer of pay claims. With the positive publicity of Humana, I projected th at its value would also increase in the market, making it an insurance of choice of the public.According to behavioral finance theories, people are overconfident, especially when they experience success. One main source of overconfidence pointed was that, most individuals consider themselves to be above average in terms of skills. This behavior was apparent when even greenhorn investors experienced exceptional growth in technology stocks of the 1990’s. As the stocks continued to climb, investors began to ascribe much of their triumph to their ability to make shrewd investment decisions. Personally, I thought that my projections on the oil and mining industries were more accurate than the foresight of other investors.I thus bought a total of 2000 IEO shares in two different occasions. My rationale was that, oil prices would rise, because it already dipped this year. The same level of smug overconfidence applied to my AUY stock acquisition. In times of crisis, I reasoned, peopl e would splurge on objects which have economic value. In my mind, a woman with money will likely choose a Louis Vuitton bag due to its resale value, than a Prada, even if the former were more expensive. Gold jewelry too, will have high demand, since it can be pawned. Thus, AUY, a gold mining firm was a reasonable buy.Humans have a tendency to seek or interpret information in a way that would confirm one's preconceptions. Conversely, information which contradict prior beliefs would be avoided. This type of selective thinking is called the confirmation bias. With the positive financial data I had gathered about SWHC, I already had a mental picture of its performance. However, since it is mainly an arms company, an industry which I am not well aware of, and less publicized as compared to energy firms, I still had to substantiate my expectations. True enough, the earnings of SWHC grew consistently.The information I needed to verify my previous opinion was made available. I decided to pu rchase 1000 shares at two different occasions. I bought the first share at $5. 68 and the next 500 at $5. 46. My decision turned out bad, since I decided to sell half of my SWHC shares days later, at a lower price of $5. 29. This action of mine is reflective of the loss aversion theory. It refers to the propensity of people to lean towards avoidance of losing a certain amount than gaining the same value. Losses are considered to have heavier emotional impact than do gains.Observing that the price of SWHC is quite going down, I disposed half my shares. I would rather sell at a marginal loss of . 27 per share than wait for the SWHC stock to plunge deeper than lose much more. However, I decided to keep half the shares. Why? Because I wanted to at least break even with my losses, just in case the price goes up, a behavior quite related to gambler’s fallacy. According to the gambler’s fallacy, investors liquidate a position after it has consistently gone up. It is also call ed the Monte Carlo fallacy.It rests on the belief that deviations from expected behavior which occur repeatedly will eventually be countered by opposite movements. For instance, a huge increase in stock price will eventually be corrected by the market, thus the difference should be exploited right away. This belief that high prices are temporary was illustrated in my trading of GERN shares. I bought 4000 shares from GERN at 6. 37 per share. Since the price to book ratio is 2. 02, the stock appeared to be highly valued by the market. But, the return on investment, and EBITDA of GERN is negative, indicating that it is not good for medium term investments.I wanted simply to buy and sell the shares. To take advantage of its high market value, the 1000 shares of the 4000 GERN stocks were sold at $6. 61. In addition, the news regarding the probability of Oracle selling Sun Microsystems prompted me to sell my shares in JAVA. Oracle’s move would mean that JAVA is not performing well. Thus, I had no desire to be part of the lowering of its market value When the news was announced that Palm and Dell lead the technological race,I decided to purchase its stocks. In addition, Palm was about to launch its Pre, a handheld technological device.Palm was a company with huge potential growth, I surmised. I wanted to take advantage of the boom it will undergo once its new product floods the market. Given such information, I bought 4000 shares of the company. Apparently, I wasn’t the only investor clamoring for PALM’s shares. The market over reacted to the statement that Pre is predicted to be the next It thing. This kind of behavior is called overreaction. According to market efficiency, new information should be reflected almost immediately in a security's price. For instance, positive reviews should raise a business' share price.The new share price should not decline even if no fresh information has been released since. Reality, however, tends to challenge this concept. Usually, stock market participants predictably overreact to the most recent information, creating a larger-than-expected effect on the price. In addition, it also appears that this price surge erodes over time. The herding or bandwagon effect simply states that investors move in a certain popular direction. They tend to mimic one another. The huge volume of PALM shares traded enticed me to join in the trend.I had the same mindset with my purchase of IEO shares. The number of subscribers has been increasing since December 2008. Thus, I decided to buy in. Furthermore, on June 1, 2008, IEO was at its 6 month high at more than 900,000 shares. I decided to purchase an additional 1000 shares at $47. 55 . The same theory applied with my purchase of the AUY shares. It was considered hotstock due to its increasing volume in the market. Lastly, the news on CX’s reorganization did not entice me to buy its stocks. It announced that it would restructure its top management ef fective May 15.But, I only decided to buy 1000 shares two weeks after. I did underreact to new information Expected Return I expected a 40% return for my portfolio. But, I was largely disappointed. The portfolio return was a mere 3%. Since the current risk free rate is at 5%, the asset return is 3% and the standard deviation is . 00334, the Sharpe ratio is -5988. 024 . Based on this calculation, I was not successful as an active portfolio manager. I would have done better if I bought an index fund. My trading performance was largely disappointing. I relied too much on fundamental analysis.I could have used technical data more, to incur larger profits. For starters, I depended heavily on P/E ratios. P/E ratios, it turned out are simply market forecasts, but not highly reliable. Also, I should have taken the risk with undervalued, high growth stocks. These start-up firms could have provided me with returns I could have also used the CAPM, where Re=Rf+(Rm-Rf)B. By comparing a stockâ₠¬â„¢s return relative to the market average and risk free rate, I would have a more precise gauge of whether the asset has high yields. Lastly, I wasn’t able to observe the market closely for I only traded at night.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Conflict between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Essay

â€Å"Choose a play in which there is a conflict between key characters. Explain how the conflict arises and, by referring to appropriate techniques, go on to say how the conflict adds tension to the play, and whether is it resolved.† William Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy ‘Macbeth,’ charts the rise and fall of the titular character and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is one of the kings most trusted thanes, a â€Å"worthy cousin,† but he betrays that trust and murders the king after being manipulated into agreeing to commit the crime by his ambitious wife. This conflict drives a wedge between the characters and creates tension at a number of points in the play. Eventually all of their treachery is discovered, and Macbeth and his wife both face terrible consequences for their earlier actions. The conflict first arises between the key characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, when Macbeth arrives home from battle. After the battle Macbeth came across the â€Å"weird sisters,† who hailed him as â€Å"king hereafter†. His ambition is immediately made known to the audience in his soliloquy where he admits his â€Å"black and deep desires†, although he reasons with himself and comes to the conclusion that: â€Å"If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir.† However, Macbeth’s â€Å"dearest partner of greatness† is extremely ambitious and is already set on murdering the king so that herself and her husband can claim the crown and is angry when she discovers that he has had a change of heart. Lady Macbeth soon overcomes this, as she is as cunning as she is ambitious, manipulating her husband by questioning his manhood and calling him a â€Å"coward.† After the murder, Macbeth instantly regrets it and further conflict is created between the characters as Lady Macbeth has to interfere and plants the bloody daggers on the drugged guards, as her husband is too shaken to do it. Macbeth rambles that he has â€Å"murdered sleep†. She scolds him for being so weak, telling him, â€Å"My hands are of your colour but I would shame to wear a heart so white,† and that â€Å"a little water† will clear them of the deed. The two characters will experience a role reversal later on in the play. Although they have achieved their goal, Macbeth is still unhappy as he views himself as having a â€Å"fruitless crown†, as he and his wife have no heir. There is also tension created between Macbeth and Banquo, as Macbeth fears Banquo suspects him of the murder, as well as the witches prophecy that Banquo â€Å"shalt get kings†, which is heavy on Macbeth’s mind. To solve his problem, Macbeth hires assassins to murder his friends, as tells the assassins that Banquo’s young, innocent son should also â€Å"embrace the fate of that dark hour†. Macbeth does not consort with his wife about their murder, which is on of the early signs that their relationship is beginning to deteriorate due to the tension caused by the original murder. There is tension in the famous ‘Banquet Scene’, which is a turning point for Macbeth and the point in the play where he fully commits to evil. Macbeth’s psychotic break during which he see’s Banquo’s â€Å"bloodied† ghost causes tension as it is viewed by his royal lords and kinsmen and gives them reason to believe there is something amiss. Lady Macbeth tried to pull her husband together, asking him â€Å"Are you a man?†, again trying to manipulate him by challenging his manhood. Although this worked before, it doesn’t now. This could be due to the murder of the king changing Macbeth as a man, but murder is not new to Macbeth so it is much more likely that the conflict earlier on in the play has caused a loss of respect and closeness between himself and his wife. As the play goes on, Macbeth and his wife grow further apart. Macbeth becomes the one â€Å"full of direst cruelty,† who seems ruthless and remorseless and Lady Macbeth is the one who cannot have a peaceful sleep. This role reversal is a common theme in many of Shakespeare’s dramas. Tension is created as while Lady Macbeth is asleep, she imagines blood on her hands, saying â€Å"Out damned spot†, and reveals her and Macbeth’s guilt to her hand maiden and the doctor. Lady Macbeth eventually commits suicide, so the conflict is unresolved. Upon hearing the nears Macbeth simply says, â€Å"She should have died hereafter.† It is not long until he also dies, which is a direct result of the original murder of the king. In conclusion, the conflict first arises between the key characters, Macbeth  and Lady Macbeth, when they decide to murder the king but then Macbeth has a change of heart and has to be bullied into it by his wife. Further tension is created between the key characters after the murder due to guilt and the psychological consequences take a toll on Macbeth, as well as his wife, in different ways. Macbeth and his wife experience a role reversal and grow further apart until eventually Lady Macbeth commits suicide, unable to deal with her guilt and Macbeth dies soon after in an equally gruesome manner. The conflict is not resolved as there is no reconciliation between the key characters.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Cause and Effect Essay - Moving to a Large City Cause Effect Essays

Whoosh! That is the precise sound I heard as the crazed flock of travelers headed for the train terminal. My best friend, Stacy, and I were left disoriented and understandably confused once the crowd thinned. We were at Madison Square Garden at the train terminal awaiting our train back to the hotel; it was our first trip to New York City. As one may imagine, it was a fascinating and surreal voyage into extreme urban life. It was so enthralling and exciting that afterward I felt compelled to make a permanent trek to a large city. Due to my experiences in cities like Atlanta and New York, I have an increasing desire to live in a large city because of the various forms of entertainment, myriad of transportation, and the never-ending excitement typical of such a fast-paced lifestyle. My main reason for having such a strong urge to move to a city like New York is the variety of entertainment such a city offers, such as shopping, unique eateries, and shows like concerts and musicals. During my stay in New York, I was s...

Organisations face a variety of contradictory and competing approaches Essay

Organisations face a variety of contradictory and competing approaches when deciding whether or not to comply with industry norms - Essay Example The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During the last two financial years, the Group has also entered into arrangements with network operators in countries where the Group does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Network Agreements, the Group and its partner networks co-operate in the development and marketing of global services under dual brand logos. At 30 September 2007, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had ownership interests at that date, the Group had 241 million customers, excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance with the Company's percentage interest in these ventures. Vodafone seeks to be the worldwide communications leader in over the period of the next 2-5 years. In order to accomplish this, they will first and foremost have to deal with telecommunication industry regulations (Damien & Kerf 2003). Vodafone also consistently has to address customer complaints that stem from their competitors. International trends also play a factor, including "the liberalization of the terminal equipment market and the market for value-added services" (Bauer 1994). In order to stay ahead of the g... ing against global sourcing decisions across companie, and provid[ing] compliance measurement reports," as well as perfect the use of cellular phones for "tracking persons through the global positioning system" (Bauer 1994). According to Balsinde et al.: Multiple opportunities are open for Vodafone. One, cheaper UK-US phone calls would divert traffic from Europe to be routed via London to the US, turning Britain into a vital telecommunications hub. Two, There is still a huge market which is still untapped for mobile services. About 78 out of a hundred UK residents still do not have mobile phone services; this is a potential market that Vodafone needs to address. Three, Vodafone can create a strong market niche in the 3G telephone systems set-up since it has the technological advantage, financial expertise and marketing network to compete with other major players. The fourth strength is the full liberalization of the telecommunications market will enable Vodafone to make its presence felt in the new member countries of the European Union (EU). The fifth strength is that once the benefits of EU industry regulation outweigh their potential costs, Vodafone can operate unhampered in the EU. The efficient allocation of regulatory resources will result in consistent regulatory decisions across EU member-states. The sixth strength is that the UK economy offers low business taxes, low real interest rates, robust growth in demand, substantial falls in equipment prices and the effect of a strong stock market in reducing the cost of capital. These positive factors favor business growth in areas which require the installation of substantial new capital such as the mobile phone business. The seventh strength is that the overall picture of telecommunications in the UK is one